


Universal Truths of Time Travel

by penna_nomen



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Gen, Humor, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29395683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penna_nomen/pseuds/penna_nomen
Summary: Hoping to meet Jane Austen, the Doctor instead runs into the Bennet sisters. It seems she's in the midst of Pride and Prejudice, but things aren't quite right.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet & the Thirteenth Doctor
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Universal Truths of Time Travel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tablelamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/gifts).



> Chocolate Box gift for tablelamp

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anniversaries can be a tricky matter for a time traveler. How do you count the days? Whose definition of a year do you use? Fortunately the TARDIS kept track of the important anniversaries, using a cycle that equated to roughly ten Earth years; anything more frequent was rather annoying to someone who lived as long as a Time Lord.

A flash of light accompanied by a soft "ding" alerted the Doctor. "Oh, already?" she asked. "Let's see the list, then." For this anniversary, the Doctor usually revisited locations she and her granddaughter had enjoyed visiting together.

Each destination had been crossed off, most of them multiple times, and none inspired her at the moment. "Maybe it's time to try something different. Show me Susan's wishlist of places we hadn't gone to yet." She read the first entry and nodded. "Regency England it is."

She entered the coordinates and retreated to the wardrobe to find something suitable to wear. And thus she missed a rather odd flickering of lights around the console.

Soon the TARDIS had materialized, and the Doctor was traversing a path toward a nearby town. Presumably that's where she'd find and meet Jane Austen.

Once in the town, she noticed several men in the scarlet coats of the military of the day, and several young women flirting with the officers. A matronly woman called out, "Girls! Girls! I've heard the most excellent news! The Blankshire isn't going to Brighton after all! They're staying, and they expect their ranks to double!"

"Oh, Mama!" exclaimed a teenager. "Even more officers to dance with!"

Two young women followed the girl and her mother toward a shop, but first they exchanged a troubled look.

"This is unfortunate news," said the darker-haired woman. "I'd hoped the removal of the regiment would help bring Lydia to her senses. Instead she will be chasing officers to the exclusion of all other activity."

"Perhaps she will grow bored of it," said the lighter-haired woman.

"Jane, you always think the best of people, but you know Lydia too well to doubt the truth. In a month's time she will become the most hardened flirt ever to grace the assemblies of Meryton." With that they entered the shop.

Was the lighter-haired woman Jane Austen? The Doctor had thought _Blankshire_ and _Meryton_ were names the author had invented, but these women were referring to them as real entities. 

She glanced around, checking for recording devices. Was this a _Pride and Prejudice_ film set? Or an immersive experience for fans on holiday?

A cat strolled over to her and meowed. "A ginger," said the Doctor. "My favorite. What can you tell me about this place?" Time Lords had an affinity for cats, whose nine lives made them the closest equivalent on Earth to a race who could regenerate. The Doctor scooped up the creature, knowing she'd be able to tell how many lives this one had left and even some vague impression of things the cat had seen as it passed from one life to the next.

The Doctor staggered under the sheer weight of the animal's memories. It had lived thousands of lives. No, millions. And it seemed to have an infinity remaining. And those lives… There were the Regency scenes she had expected, but also settings that seemed to span all of time and space. "How is this possible?"

The next thing she knew, she was inside a shop, and someone was waving a vial of something particularly pungent beneath her nose. "What? Wasn't I outside?" the Doctor asked.

"My sister was watching through the window and saw you fall," said the blonde woman. "We asked the shopkeeper to help you inside."

"You're Jane," said the Doctor.

"Why yes. Have we met?"

"Jane Austen?" The Doctor asked, sitting up straight.

"No, I'm Jane Bennet. Lizzy, do you know a Jane Austen?"

"The name sounds familiar," said the brunette, "but I cannot say why."

"She's an author," the Doctor explained. "And one of her most famous books is _Pride and Prejudice_ , featuring the Bennet family and their encounters with a Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy."

Jane and Lizzy exchanged another look. "It cannot be a coincidence," Lizzy said.

"But to write about our family without our knowledge, without even changing our names? Surely no respectable person would do such a thing," Jane objected.

The Doctor lept to her feet. "But the story's gone wrong. The Blankshire is supposed to go to Brighton. Why is someone changing the plot?" She frowned. "And why am I in the plot?" She turned her attention to the Bennet sisters. "Is this real? We're not in some sort of simulation?"

"I confess I do not understand half of what you are saying," Lizzy responded.

"Join us for lunch," Jane suggested. "That may help settle you, and my aunt will not mind an additional guest. She thrives on company."

The aunt in question was too excited about the regiment's extended stay to pay much attention to a beleaguered stranger. Mrs. Bennet and her two younger daughters were of a similar nature.

"What can you tell us of this book you mentioned?" asked Lizzy, leading the Doctor to a quiet corner with Jane.

"The one about us," Jane added.

The Doctor recounted the plot up to when the regiment went to Brighton, and the sisters looked concerned.

"How could this stranger, this Jane Austen, be aware of such things?" Lizzy asked. "Who outside of our family could know? What you describe is almost exactly what has occurred these past months, and to be already published as a book… I hardly know what to think."

 _Almost exactly?_ Those words caught the Doctor's attention. "Tell me which parts of the story differ from what you experienced." When the sisters hesitated, she insisted, "It's critical that I know. I need as much information as I can get to find out what's going on here. Whatever it is, I need to stop it before it's too late."

Lizzy looked around the room to make sure no one else was listening, and then said, "This book you read must have an ending. You know what will happen to us."

"That is impossible!" Jane objected.

"I know what _should_ happen, but the variations between the book and what you experienced could change the entire timeline. At this point there's no telling what will happen. If you want your happy endings, you have to help me."

Lizzy nodded, then turned toward the others and said, "Mama, I'm going to see our new friend back to her lodgings. I'll walk home from there. You need the extra space in the carriage for all of our purchases, I am sure."

Mrs. Bennet gave her consent. Soon Lizzy and the Doctor had left the town behind them, following the same path the Doctor had taken from the TARDIS.

"The most significant difference between the story you shared and our actual lives concerns William. You told of a cousin who would inherit my father's estate. But William is not a cousin. He is my brother. He did indeed marry my friend Charlotte Lucas. And he is…" she trailed off. "Not quite as ridiculous as you described, but he did return from his time at university with an unfortunately pompous air."

"Well, that's a turn I didn't expect," admitted the Doctor. "All I can suggest is that I travel back in time to find out when the plot diverged." She stepped off the path into a copse where the TARDIS stood. "Good thing I've got a time machine."

"You cannot mean…" Lizzy trailed off as she saw the TARDIS.

"Come along," the Doctor said. "Not a moment to waste." She opened the door, reached out for Lizzy's hand, and yanked her inside.

Lizzy looked around. "This is most disorienting."

"Well hold on, because it's going to get even worse." The Doctor closed the door and approached the console. Soon the TARDIS made its wheezing sound and they had left whatever that place had been.

Lizzy paled. "Why… Why did I tell you William was my brother? I don't have a brother. Mr. Collins is my cousin, and the lack of a son is the reason my parents…" She stumbled, and the Doctor guided her toward a chair. "Charlotte didn't marry Mr. Collins. I married him." She shook her head. "No. Caroline Bingley married him." She looked up pleadingly at the Doctor. "Why do I have so many memories, and so contradictory?"

"And why is a fictional character sitting in my TARDIS?"

"Fictional? I am as real as you are."

"Here's what I think," said the Doctor. "Somehow, the TARDIS connected to Jane Austen. To her mind, or her memories. And someone's tinkering with them. Making adjustments. And if I don't stop them, one of the most famous works of English literature could disappear or at least become unrecognizable. And if they can do that to one work, who knows what other stories they'll attack next."

The console made an unpleasant sound and the Doctor jumped over to check the readings. "That can't be right." She changed the settings, going forward rather than back in time. The unpleasant sound occurred again. "According to this, there is no past or future. Only now." She frowned. "Show me Susan's list again. Maybe I missed something."

The TARDIS displayed the list, and the Doctor touched the entry for "Jane Austen."

A hologram appeared, a perfect image of Susan. The message had been recorded long ago, when the TARDIS looked much different. "Grandfather," Susan said, and the Doctor took a deep, nearly sobbing breath at hearing her granddaughter's voice again. "I'm leaving you this list, in case I'm no longer with you. I'm afraid you might be lonely, or even crotchety." She grinned. "I want you to remember that anything is possible, and there is so much in the universe to bring awe and delight. One of those is a bubble I discovered. The works of Jane Austen have created such a strong impression on people, that the books and their adaptations have formed their own mini reality, where each variation is played out simultaneously. Every imagining of every reader and every author inspired by Austen is captured within the bubble. Each time you travel there, you find yourself in a different variation. Some are only slightly different from what Austen wrote, and others are barely recognizable as having been inspired by Austen's works. But each one is unique and wonderful."

The hologram faded away, and after a minute the Doctor reversed the settings, telling the TARDIS to return to the exact time and space from which she had plucked Lizzy.

"What does this mean?" the character asked.

"It means not everything is a problem to be solved. I saw schemes and machinations instead of simply appreciating the moment, and that's a very sad state indeed." The Doctor gave Lizzy a wry smile. "It's a truth universally acknowledged that a Time Lord traveling alone will become rather eccentric and paranoid. It's time I return you to your fam, and then I need to get back to mine."

**Author's Note:**

> I loved this prompt! For those who aren't familiar with the 1963-era Doctor Who episodes, Susan Foreman was the Doctor's granddaughter and traveled with the Doctor through the first season and into the second. The anniversary I mentioned in the beginning could be Susan's birthday, or could be the anniversary of when they parted ways; I haven't seen that episode but it sounds heart-wrenching.


End file.
